Grit
by KadiToka-Chii
Summary: Her loud pride was just enough to get submissive little him standing up.


**Grit**

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**||… For some strange reason, despite have other fics to take care of… I felt like writing Christopher x Nene (that is how you spell her name, right? I never know…). Because, despite being kind of whiny, Christopher does have his cute-ish moments… and then Nene just makes me laugh…^^**

**… Though considering I haven't watched an episode with her in it in FOREVER… I might have made her rather OOC…**

**||Disclaimer: I do not own Bakugan.**

**||Christopher x Nene, with onesided Christopher x Alice. And as I mentioned somewhere above, Nene is likely OOC.**

**||Her loud pride was just enough to get submissive little him standing up.**

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He had walked into the cafe bearing an anxious grin and a clumsy bouquet of daisies, their torn roots still marked with soil, and shoved them towards her with a babbling, incoherent confession that kept faltering on a tangled tongue.

She accepted them with surprised hands, the hands that had tenderly dried his hair after that first disastrous meeting, her expression one of bafflement. And slowly it shifts into apprehensive understanding as his words finally make sense.

"Christopher," she began slowly, setting the already wilting flowers down gently on the countertop, trying to ignore the curious looks of a handful of customers as she knelt down on one knee, patting his cheek. "This is really sweet, and I really appreciate it, but… I'm sorry. I don't feel the same way… I'm too old for you. You're my little buddy… the one and only."

The words came like a punch to the gut, and with that his whole world of youth and innocence, all the courage she had urged him to foster, fell away, leaving him to stammer and try to save himself from looking like a complete fool. "Y-yeah, I get it… I mean, I'm just a little kid, right? You… you probably like someone your own age…"

The immediate guilt that flashed on her face was enough to tell him that he was correct. "Christopher, I'm sorry…"

"No, no! Heh, I'm sorry, I was just being stupid, you know, I'm stupid a lot of the time, and we're just f-friends…" He backed away with a shakingly sheepish upturn of the lips. "Yeah, it wasn't anything big anyways, I gotta go, see ya Alice…"

And he backtracked as fast as he could for the door, leaving the remorse-ridden redhead to stand there alone, with the handful of daisies laying limp and forlorn on the counter.

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It was a pebble, bouncing off the back of his head, and a high-pitched call that had first shaken him out of his self-pity. "Heyy, what do you think you're doing here?! This is MY spot!"

Christopher yelped, hand flying up to his head as he glanced around wildly. His legs instinctively pulled themselves up onto the worn park bench, in case the source of the annoyed voice decided to attack them. "W-wha…?"  
"I'm BEHIND you, stupid!!"  
Blinking frantically, Christopher spun around, to see a large pair of narrowed, dark blue eyes glowering at him through the slats making up the back. "Um… I'm really sorry…"

"You should be!" With an irritable huff, the little girl stalked around the bench, tiny hands planted on the side of her neat skirt and tightly curled pigtails bouncing at either side of her round head. "This is seriously MY spot, kid! Beat it!!"

Christopher wilted slightly under her sharp demand. "Okay… again, I'm really sorry…"

"HOLD UP!!" Her hand suddenly snatched his wrist as he hopped off, preventing him from making an escape as she examined his face closely, wrinkling her nose slightly. "I know you from somewhere?"

"Um… I'm not really sure…"

She snapped her fingers, a brief expression of smug victory flashing across her face. "Hey, were you involved in that big fight with the Big Ugly Dragon Bakugan Dude?!"

_… Naga?_ And Alice, fighting beside him, being brilliant and beautiful and powerful and… "Er… yes… kinda… I tried to help out a little bit…"

"Hey, I did to! Except, you know, I was a BIG help…" The girl released him, satisfied… and then unexpectedly flicked him in the forehead. "Stupid, what do you think you're doing, being so spineless?! Geez, you think you'd act a bit more MACHO if you REALLY helped out against Big Ugly Dragon Bakugan Dude!"

Christopher's mouth dropped open as he rubbed his forehead in shock. "… Ehh…?"

"Show some backbone!! You can't just back down to me so easily!!" The girl sniffed, crossing her arms and fixing him with a glare. "Stop giving me that weak expression! You gotta tell me that you are tough and will NOT give up your seat!!"

There was a brief flare of annoyance at the girl, quickly dying down as Alice came to mind again, smiling gently, telling him to have faith, courage… "… But it's no problem, I was leaving soon anyways…"

"I DON'T CARE!! YOU GOTTA ROAR!!"

And now Christopher was just _so_ entirely lost. "… Roar?"

"YES, ROAR!!" The girl curled her hands into fists, raising them up into the air proudly. "Like _me_, when people make _me_ mad!! And then they get all scared of me… but they're also REALLY jealous, because I become even cuter than usual with I roar… see? Rawr~!!"

Christopher just blinked at her disconcertedly, taking a tiny step backwards. "Ah… I kinda really have to go, my parents are probably wondering where I am…"

"Who cares about _parents?_" The girl rolled her eyes, lips curling up into a small sneer. "I just totally ditched my brainless brothers, and I couldn't care less. They'll get over it, I'm sure your parents will too! Now, act tough, wimpy!!"

Wilt, wilt, shrink, die a bit inside… Alice had never been this mean to him… "Look, I already gave you back your seat…"

"This isn't about the seat anymore!!" To demonstrate this point, the girl waved her hand with purposeful absentmindedness. "This is about the fact that a total sissy _supposedly_ helped to save the world! No one's gonna believe that if you keep acting… you know, all sissy-like! I hardly believe you! Maybe you just stood on the sidelines crying!!"

His fingers twitched, ever so slightly, forehead creasing. "That's… not really nice…"

She just smirked in return, her shrill voice singing with the thrill of worming a deepening frown out of him, each word purposefully meant to stab at his pride. "Oh, is that so, _sissy~?_ Wimpy? Baby? Chiiiiiiicken? You're looking pretty mad there, sissy, am I offending you---?"

"YES YOU ARE." He could hardly care if his voice had risen a few notches too loud for his liking, or that a self-satisfied grin was glowing on the girl's face. "I DID help save Vestroia and Earth, I did NOT stand on the sidelines, I am NOT a sissy, and I am NOT GIVING YOU THIS PARK BENCH!!"

…

Silence, for only a few seconds.

"… Ack, I'm sorry!!" In the space of a second, Christopher shrank, blushing furiously with shame from his outburst. "I didn't mean to yell… here, take the bench, I'm _really_ sorry…"

"YOU KIDDING~? THAT WAS _GREAT!!_" Christopher blinked weakly as the girl clapped her hands together in glee, cackling. "Finally, you showed you have a little bit of pluck in you! Geez, I was getting worried there…"

"Er… thank you…?"

"Well, I've got to go!" She winked at him, still chuckling a bit. "Heyy… maybe when you get _really_ tough, we could be boyfriend and girlfriend!!"

"!! WHAT?!" Face aflame, Christopher backed up and stuttered, arms swinging up wildly in defense as his back dug into the seat. "N-no, you shouldn't… I mean, I don't wanna… not that, gah… I'M TOO YOUNG!!"

"I _said_ when you get _really_ tough." She rolled her eyes, hands planted once again on her hips. "And _that_ won't be for a while… just make sure you're as cute as _I_ am, cause I don't want a boyfriend that's _more_ cute, or a boyfriend who can't live up to my cuteness!! 'Kay?"

"Wha…" Christopher's knees nearly gave out on him in bafflement as she twirled around and started skipping away. "Gah…"

She flicked her hand in a sort of farewell, not even bothering to turn around to address him. "Name's Nene, and you better not forget it!!"

"… Christopher," he called out feebly, not knowing if she had heard him or not as she drew further and further away… probably not, she was so _loud_… but a small smile curled his lips anyways. He doubted he could ever forget _her_…

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**||… FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL...**


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